Kato is out camping with his family, and they decide to start a campfire because of the cold air. After everyone roasts marshmal
lows to a crispy golden brown, they eat them, and then they decide to go to sleep. Before going to sleep, Kato pours water over the campfire to put it out. He notices that steam drifts from the burned wood and ashes even though the fire is gone and the coals have stopped glowing. Which statements best describe how energy is conserved in this scenario?
When the fire is extinguished, all the energy, in the form of heat is prevented from going to it's full capacity. The energy remaining in the coals and wood is saved because the fire that could release this energy is no more.
Having a burning fire releases energy because the bonds that are used to hold the wood together is being broken. Many of the bonds are sequentially broken and this releases energy in the form of heat. Once the bonds are no longer being broken there is no more energy to be released.
Explanation: The law of conservation of energy which popularly states that, in a closed system, energy can neither be created nor destroyed but can only be converted from one form to another, in the scenario above, while trying to put out the fire with water, the energy supplied by the burning wood in the form of heat is quenched with water, pouring water on the wood does not destroy the heat energy being produced, however, applying water converts the energy of the wood to another form, which is evident in the release of steam after the fire had been put out.
